[ 808^ 
XIV. The Structure and Affinities of Davidia involucrata, Baill, By A. 8. Pin ui B.Se., 
F.G.S., Marshall Scholar at the Royal College of Science, London. (Communicated 
by Prof. J. BRETLAND Farmer, F.R.S., F.L.S. ) 
(Plates 31-33.) 
Read 18th March, 1909. 
INTRODUCTION. 
DAVIDIA was first discovered by the Abbé David near Mupin, in the mountainous 
province of Szechuen in Western China, on the borderland of Tibet. This tree has a 
remarkable appearance, which has been well described by those who have seen it in its 
native habitat, where it grows amongst Cerasus, Corylus, Quercus, and other trees, at a 
height of about 2000 metres. Two species are enumerated in the ‘Index Kewensis'— 
Davidia involucrata, Baill., and Davidia tibetana, David. The specific name tibetana is 
used by the Abbé David in a letter to Franchet in 1881, and appears to be synonymous 
with involucrata, since he writes *: “l'arbre curieux que M. Baillon a bien voulu appeler 
de mon nom, Davidia tibetana..... 7 The first dried material appears to have been 
placed in the Paris Herbarium with other “ Plante: Davidianz." In 1889, during a six 
months’ excursion, A. Henry found a single tree in East Szechuen and from this source 
obtained fruits and seeds. A fully developed inflorescence of his went to the British 
Museum of Natural History. In 1904 a number of trees were seen by E. H. 
Wilson in the same province, and seedlings and a series of inflorescences and fruits were 
brought to this country. Wilson states that there are two distinct varieties of 
Davidia involucrata—the one described by Baillon with large showy bracts, and another 
with smaller bracts. A description and full-page illustration from dried material 
collected by Wilson of Davidia involucrata appeared in the ; Gardeners’ Chronicle 
of April 11, 1903. Davidia is again figured on June 2, 1906, in the same journal, from 
a photograph taken in Vilmorin’s nursery, where the plant flowered for the first time 
in Europe. 
Davidia was originally described by Baillon f, and was placed by him near Nyssa 
among the Combretaceæ. An excellent figure of a twig bearing a fully developed 
inflorescence is given by A. Franchet f in ‘ Plante Davidiane.’ The anatomy 
* Franchet, Plant. David. i. p. 161. 
+ Baillon in ‘ Adansonia,’ x. (1871) p. 114 : 
i Franchet in Nouv. Arch. Mus. 2° sér. (1888) pl. 10. 
SECOND SERIES.—BOTANY, VOL. VII. 
